Run-Ins
by SuperGroverAway
Summary: Mabel learns experiences just how incredibly quickly one's day can change depending on who one accidentally crosses paths with, for better and for worse.


"…Thanks, I'll see you next week!" The young girl gleefully bid her farewells as she exited the arts and crafts shop. Once back out in the warm summer sun, Mabel could only get ten paces before she had to stop to look at her purchases with a small squeak of barely contained excitement.

It was official; today was a _very_ good day. She was able to spend over an hour happily browsing her favorite store, bought several new brightly colored yarn balls, and still had the rest of the afternoon to get some serious knitting done. Her imagination had already cooked up at least two new sweater designs, and she'd probably have at least one more thought up by the time she returned to the shack. She was so pleased with the wealth of simple joys, she couldn't help but add a small skip to her step as she began to briskly trot down the sidewalk.

Alas, it seemed that she had judged too soon. The girl only ended up making it one block before her buoyant mood hit a massive speed bump.

"Well, who do we have _here_?" The smile vanished from Mabel's face almost the instant an all-too-familiar voice rang mockingly in her ears. Instinctively she braced herself as a group of young girls merged from a nearby shop, all with iced coffee drinks in hand.

"Mabel Pines? Here, downtown? But you don't have anyone to hold your hand! How do you cross the streets?" Pacifica didn't waste much time and quickly threw out a teasing barb. As her entourage cackled on cue, Mabel hastily fixed her gaze ahead and tried to keep on walking.

"H-hi, Pacifica." She muttered as she picked up the pace. Experience had soundly taught her that no matter how much natural good cheer she had on her side, a run-in like this would not end well.

Despite the fact that she was obviously in little mood to stick around, that did little to keep her self-appointed tormentor at bay. Pacifica almost couldn't help herself; the peculiar girl was always too rich of a target to let free. Her ivory-white boots clicked loudly against the sun-baked sidewalk as she put on a small burst of speed, snatched hold of the top of the bag, and yanked hard.

"_Hey_!" Mabel yelped as a few of the yarn balls spilled out. Immediately she crouched down and hurriedly started to try to gather them up, while Pacifica took a step back. Her friends quickly caught up, and together they bunched like a group of vultures.

"Oh, of _course_ that's what you bought." She rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Did you make sure to get some new coloring books too?"

Mabel however didn't utter so much as a peep in reply. While the taunts rained down, she griped tenaciously to the hope that she could still salvage her day. As far as she was convinced, as long as she stayed quiet and continued on her way soon, then everything was going to be all right. If she didn't engage, then she'd be okay.

Suffice to say, it didn't take too long for Pacifica to grow a little annoyed with this. Suffice to say, being ignored was low on her list of things she could tolerate. She huffed, and kicked one of the yarn balls further away just as Mabel was about to pick it back up. The girl didn't even look up as she crawled the extra distance, and Pacifica was thus irritated even further.

"Hey. Hey, Metal-Mouth!" She fired off a classic taunt. Still nothing. This was definitely new, and it was frankly wearing down her patience fast. As she drummed her fingers against her arm, her friends just hovered awkwardly behind her, almost at a loss without anything to chime in on.

There was one yarn ball left on the ground. Mabel was just about to wrap her fingers around it when Pacifica pinned it down with a knee-high boot.

"_Well_?" She snapped. "Are you going to say anything?"

The other girl kept her gaze averted as she crouched on the ground. Finally, she broke her silence with a soft plea. "Please pick your foot up."

Pacifica only ground the bright red ball of wool further against the pavement. Mabel couldn't help but flinch in dismay, an in response a smirk popped back onto the preteen blonde's face. At last, she had something to work with.

"I'm sorry…did you say something?" she asked cruelly.

"Please...pick your foot up." Mabel asked again, this time a little bit louder. Pacifica only stomped harder, as her girlfriends burst out snickering. After quickly convincing herself that it wasn't worth it, the brunette clambered back to her feet. Unfortunately, before she could head out, Pacifica snapped her fingers, and in a flash her cronies had formed a three-person ring around her.

"What's with the silent treatment today?" Pacifica asked after taking a sip from her drink. "You're usually chattier than this."

"I'm going home." Mabel gripped her bag tightly and announced, but to no avail. The circle was tightened a little further.

"And that's it? That's all I'm gonna get? You're no fun today, Pines." Pacific remarked.

Hopelessly on the spot, Mabel took a deep breath and then declared honestly, "I'm not a fan of saying nasty things to other people."

"Ooooh, I don't wike it when people say bad things!" Pacifica stuck out her lower lip as she broke out into a whiny imitation. "I'm Mabel Pines, and I wanna be a good, good widdle girl! Besides, mommy said I'm not allowed to say bad words, wike 'stupid' and dummy'! Is that it?"

Her prey paused to think over her answer. She wasn't in any mood to sound like nothing more than a character from a cliché-ridden after school special. Then again, chances were that they were going to make fun of whatever reply she gave. Deciding that she might as well go with the plain truth, she locked gazes and announced as boldly as she could, "I do it because _I_ believe that what goes around, comes around."

Almost immediately she regretted her words. It had sounded even lamer than she had feared. Having just been served up more torment-fodder, the preteen blonde tittered before pouncing. "Aww, is that what Big Bird said this morning on Sesame Street?"

Mabel whimpered; so much for standing her ground. To her mild panic, she could already feel the familiar prickling sensation in the corner of her eye, and as she hastily wiped her face with the corner of her sleeve, Pacifica went in for the kill.

"It looks like today was brought to you by the letter 'L', for 'Loser!'" She snickered, and again her cronies obediently burst out cackling like a pair of harpies. As each giggle tore like a knife into the girl's already mauled ego, Mabel whined softly as she prayed for a chance to get home without any trouble.

To be honestly, she really wasn't expecting a miracle of any sorts. As a result, she was just as surprised as everyone else when the incoming missile finally made its appearance. Without warning, a red blur rocketed to earth. A loud shriek of pain rent the air as it struck Pacifica squarely in the chest, and bounced onto the sidewalk, revealing itself to be a hard plastic ball. Iced mocha latte splattered about as she dropped to the sidewalk and immediately stared wailing up a storm.

Her absolutely stunned toadies just gawked dumbly for a few moments as they tried to process what just happened. It was difficult to tell what was upsetting their friend the most; the fresh bruise she just received, or the splashes of iced coffee drink that covered her brand-new outfit. After staring silently like a pair of nitwits, they finally and hastily tried to come to the rescue. One began to try to full Pacific back to her feet while the other tore a tissue out of her purse and started to dab away furiously.

"No, stop! _Stop_!" She snapped as they clumsily tended to her. "_Ow_! Stoppit! Just give me a second, okay? Just…just one second! Stop! St-_OW_!"

One of the girls accidentally let go, and Pacifica tumbled down onto the sidewalk. She clambered to her knees and began wailing shrilly again while she clutched at her aching chest. Meanwhile, the distressed clamor only threw her entourage into even more of a fretful tizzy, and they milled about like characters from an old slapstick comedy.

All the while Mabel just stood and looked on as she struggled to make sense of this surprising turn of events. As she watched, a giggle suddenly worked its way out of her throat, followed by another, and a few seconds later she had erupted into full-fledged laughter.

Pacifica had gone red-faced as she tried to throw a fierce glare her way, but it was of little use. The girl's good spirits had returned in full force and then some, and any attempt to try and drag it back down was effective as firing a slingshot at a battleship. Tittering happily, Mabel fetched her last yarn ball, tossed it back with the others and waved merrily.

"Gues I'll see you later!" she bid adieu in the most cheery singsong that she could. With this she whirled around, crossed the street and went on her way home.

As she listened to the absurd racket continuing behind her, Mabel looked up toward the bright blue sky above. She wasn't quite sure who had intervened on her behalf. Nevertheless, she thought it polite to say heavenward, "Thank you."

"No problemo."

The fact that she got a genuine reply gave her a bit of a start. However, when a familiar face emerged from behind a dumpster, Mabel's alarm quickly gave way to a huge wave of surprised delight.

"_Wendy_!" she involuntarily yelled. The slightly sweat-soaked redhead grinned mischievously from ear to ear as she shouldered her field hockey stick.

"Huh, well what happened over _there_?" she sniggered, nodding across the road. "Weird! Looks like someone had an accident or somet-"

The teenager didn't beg much further before Mabel shamelessly lunged forward and hurled her arms around her waist for a tight squeeze. Wendy was thrown off guard, but only for a moment before she carelessly dropped the coy and cool act, and leaned over for a quick one-armed hug.

"Hey...I was coming back from a game and saw some stuck-ups. What was I supposed to do?" she confessed with a chuckle.

"…Hit them with something else?" Mabel looked up and suggested sweetly.

Wendy playfully wagged a finger, and then burst into a fit of the chuckles before admitting, "Y'know, that probably would have happened if I had another ball on me."

"Well, can..." Mablel broke the thankful embrace and paused before asking boldly, "Can you teach me to throw like that? For...reasons?"

She smiled hopefully. The teen laughed aloud again, glanced briefly over to her handiwork, then winked.

"Only if you can help me put together a good cover story. My shack shift started..." she checked her watch. "Oh, about two hours ago."

Giggling up a storm Mabel nodded enthusiastically as she gathered her knitting supplies up. Together the two trooped off, and joked and teased all the while.

"They had it coming. Calling people names? Sure, no problem. But no one rags on the Street in my town. Rippin' on Big Bird? Nuh-uh, not on my watch!" Wendy wielded her hockey stick in a mock-menacingly manner.

"Well of course they didn't know that." Mabel tittered as she practically skipped along. "That's because today was brought to you by the number zero, for zero brains!"

"It was also brought to you by the letter 'b", for..." Sniggering almost evilly, she stopped herself in time just before the wrong word came out. "For 'bad catch', which is what your friend definitely is."

"Oh yeah, we're best buds." Mabel giggled. "Tomorrow we're going to braid hair and paint our nails together."

"Is that so? Well don't forget to bring some garlic and a wooden stake."

The two continued on as so, with the sounds of their mirth ringing thickly in the air as they joked and teased. And as her friend nearly made her sides split with laughter, Mabel mentally made what she decided was a badly-needed correction. It was all too obvious; this no longer was a very good day.

This was _clearly_ one of the best days.


End file.
